Chris Westbrook, whose career with the SIU spans 30 years, is the union’s newest assistant vice president.
SIU President David Heindel recommended Westbrook for the post, and the union’s executive board approved the proposal.
“Chris has earned the complete confidence of everyone in the SIU,” Heindel stated. “I know he’ll continue doing great work and I congratulate him on the promotion, which is well-earned.”
Westbrook, 52, started sailing with the union in the early 1990s, working aboard vessels operating in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Mississippi River. He worked his way up from ordinary seaman to chief engineer during his sailing career.
In 1998, he came ashore to serve the membership as a union official. He has worked as the New Orleans port agent for the last 18 years, and previously served as one of the school’s safety directors. Both as a rank-and-file mariner and as a union official, he has completed numerous maritime safety courses, graduating from many of those classes at the SIU-affiliated Paul Hall Center for Maritime Training and Education.
Westbrook has been involved in numerous organizing campaigns and has served on a multitude of bargaining committees, in capacities ranging from rank-and-file delegate to lead negotiator, for both the SIU and the SIU-affiliated Seafarers Entertainment and Allied Trades Union.
Moreover, he serves as the president of the AFL-CIO Maritime Trades Department’s Port Council of Greater New Orleans and Vicinity. He is a member of the nominating committee for the Port of New Orleans, Jefferson, and St. Bernard Parish Board of Commissioners. He serves on the executive board of the Louisiana State AFL-CIO as Special Assistant to the President on Maritime Affairs and on the executive board of the Greater New Orleans AFL-CIO, respectively.
Additionally, Westbrook has served on the U.S. Coast Guard’s New Orleans Area Maritime Security Committee and has received two gubernatorial appointments, from both a Republican and a Democrat.
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